Las Vegas—In recent years, the hardwood category has become the fastest growing segment within the floor covering industry. This is due to a number of reasons, such as consumers wanting to bring more natural materials into their homes and the fact that advances in technology have enabled manufacturers to create products that not only look good but perform at high levels in terms of durability and ease of maintenance. Within the wood segment, these factors have helped contribute to the growing interest in cork floor covering. While the overall consumption of cork flooring is still very small when compared to other floor coverings—worldwide sales at mill level totaled approximately $70 million in 2002—it is quickly becoming a category of it own as distributors, dealers and consumers are discovering its many value-added properties.

This was most evident at Surfaces 2003, where a number of companies unveiled the many possibilities cork brings to the industry. “This show is just the tip of the iceberg of what can be done with cork,” said Paul Nogueira, director of Infocork USA, a division of Amorim, the world’s largest cork floor producer which markets its products under the Wicanders and Ipocork brands. “Cork can be used in many ways to create innovated, value-added products—everything from a true cork floor, to flooring with cork as a backing. Cork products are also easy to install, especially now that we are incorporating the patented mechanical locking systems from Välinge.”

Going into 2003, cork accounted for less than 1/2 of a percent of all flooring sold. Executives within the segment believe that figure will quickly rise. In fact, Nogueira said it has the potential to reach 3% to 5% of the total floor covering market. Piet Dossche, whose company, Madeinchina Floors, was making its Surfaces debut with a host of unique products including a range of cork floors feels “2003 will be a major breakthrough for cork. It’s just starting to be accepted. Eventually, it will be sold just like laminate floors—in planks and using glueless, click systems.” “We’re not just selling brown cork,” Nogueira noted. “Today, it comes in many colors and styles. In fact, we’ve tracked the product around the world and are convinced it will work in the U.S.”

Traffic at the various exhibits displaying cork seemed to bare that out, as “people have been coming in with a great deal of interest,” he added. “They already see many of the positives cork has to offer.” “Cork sales are still small compared to other products,” said Bill Byrne, vice president of sales and marketing for BHK of America, “but they are selling in the quantities we projected. Our cork floors—Moderna Toledo Cork—are high end products and dealers seem to understand the benefits they bring.” “2003 will tell if cork becomes its own floor covering category and be more in the main stream of the industry,” Nogueira said. To help it achieve that status, companies such as Amorim used Surfaces to showcase its full range of products, from traditional looking cork to the more colorful, contemporary styles. In fact, 95 new color/design variations allowing for more than 350 possible combinations were on display.

Nova Distinctive Floors was showing two new, innovative cork flooring lines, Luminary Designers Series and NovaLinoleum. The Luminary collection is the company’s first line not to have the Nova name on it. Featuring colored cork planks, Luminary comes in seven styles and is installed with no glue but, rather, a click system. NovaLinoleum was another technological advancement the company had on display at Surfaces. This floating cork floor has real linoleum. The mill’s Veronica Salazar explained that linseed oil, the main ingredient in linoleum floors, is dried out and ground into a fine powder known as “linoleum cement.” This cement is then combined with ground cork and/or pine rosins, wood flour and natural pigments. The mixture gets pressed together to create the 11 patterns available in the collection.

Nova also had its traditional cork floors on display. Having 12 patterns, the floors are available in two finishes—natural and creme—as well as in either a glue-together tongue-and-groove construction or a glueless model. In addition to its floors, Nova showcased the accompanying display units. And, understanding that education is one of the key ingredients to ensure cork is successful, Nova representatives were on hand to answer questions about cork flooring and why it is a good product for the specialty retailer to carry.

Other cork companies such as Natural Cork and Expanko also reported successful showings of their new products and/or services at Surfaces. Natural Cork took advantage of its licensing agreement with Unilin, by offering the glue-free Earth Series Floating Floor. The cork flooring collection utilizes Unilin’s patented Uni-clic system to lock joints tightly in place. Featuring a 10-year limited warranty, Earth Series has the backing of the manufacturer’s customer service and technical departments. Finally, Expanko Cork unveiled its Preferred Dealer Program. The centerpiece of this program is a display system that is capable of showing the company’s line of solid, polyurethane-finished cork floors. It can also highlight Expanko’s Valares floating floors. —Matthew Spieler